


Strange Invitations

by Alshoruzen



Series: Lure [8]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Established Relationship, Investigations, M/M, Mystery, Partners in Crime, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:22:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26079433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alshoruzen/pseuds/Alshoruzen
Summary: Shinichi gets a strange call for help from a man claiming to be the target of a KID heist. Except KID was with him when he recieved the call, and the thief himself confirms that there is no such heist. Curious, the two set out to investigate. KaitoxShinichi*Note: Lemon in last chapter
Relationships: Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid
Series: Lure [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/585820
Comments: 20
Kudos: 262





	1. Strange Invitations

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in the Lure universe after the vacation to the resort. On FF.net, the Lure series is posted as one story (except for The Love Potion Mystery), so if you prefer to see everything in the original posting order, go here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10299243/1/Lure

Autumn was rolling in.

Aoko and Ran had become fast friends. They had begun meeting up twice a week for some female bonding time. And recently, Sonoko had started joining them on occasion. There was some friction between her and Aoko over their conflicting views on Kaitou KID, Ran had told Shinichi with some exasperation, but the two were gradually growing to be friends.

"It looks like things are progressing well," Kaito noted over hot chocolate one night. "Though I do wish they'd hurry up about it."

"Friendship takes time," Shinichi said absently. He was going through his letters at the library's large desk. There had been an unusually large number of them, though, as per usual, most were junk. There was one, however, that looked unusually official. It even had a wax seal of all things.

"I suppose." Kaito drained the rest of his hot chocolate then glanced down at his physics textbook. Deciding he'd had enough of studying, he shut it with a thud and stood to wander over to the desk. "What's that? An invitation?"

"A request," Shinichi murmured, still reading.

Kaito set his empty mug on the corner of the table then moved to look his arms around Shinichi's waist from behind. "A new case then."

"Maybe. It's not very clear. It says I should call them."

"Are you going to?"

"Yeah. If they're really in trouble, I have to help." He glanced at the clock. It was only nine. Still early enough for a phone call. "I'll call them now."

As the detective left to make the call, Kaito picked up the letter in question and read it over. It was, however, true that it didn't say much.

Shinichi returned a good half hour later looking troubled. Kaito zeroed in on the expression immediately and frowned.

"What is it?"

"A KID heist, apparently."

"It's an imposter," Kaito said instantly. He hadn't planned his next heist yet, let alone announced it.

"I know," Shinichi said. "But Nobu-san sounded really worried just now when we talked. He asked me to go take a look just in case."

"Has he called the police?"

"Apparently, he called Nakamori-keibu. But the task force determined that the note was a fake and told him to contact his local authorities if he thinks it isn't a prank. He says he's done so, but he would still like my opinion on the matter."

"Little surprising from that old man. Usually he doesn't give up on a lead even when he suspects it's fake until the heist passes."

"It might be the remoteness of the locale. It's pretty far from Tokyo too. It's not his jurisdiction."

"Something's bothering you."

"Well, it's just that Nobu-san sounded honestly scared."

"I take it you're going then."

Shinichi nodded. "It may be a hoax, but I think there's something else going on. I'm going to find out what."

"I'll go with you. I can go as a member of my task force. I'll just say we decided it was better to check up on the situation even though it's a fake."

"Are you sure? I know you have a big show coming up. Don't you have to prepare for it?" Shinichi asked a bit anxiously. He didn't want to interfere with Kaito's career. That, and, well, after learning about how the magician's father had died, he couldn't help but be a little worried about the idea of Kaito leaving his partially prepared equipment behind for any length of time. He knew the magician would be careful (doubly so because of his father and his night job), but still…

Kaito seemed to know what he was thinking because his eyes softened, and he offered the detective a reassuring smile. "I already have the whole show worked out. As for the fine tuning for my tools, my assistant will be sure to triple check everything if I can't. He's very reliable. Worries like a mother hen too, so you don't have to worry about him not paying close attention."

"Your assistant?"

"Jii-san. I'll introduce you sometime. I'll warn you though, he's a bit paranoid. He's always going on and on at me about how he wouldn't be able to face Dad in the afterlife if anything happened to me and getting on my case about making my heists too large scale, yada, yada, yada. Can get a bit annoying actually, but he's a good friend. Practically family."

Shinichi hid a smile at the fond exasperation he could hear in Kaito's voice as he complained about his assistant's overprotective tendencies. He found he didn't feel quite so worried anymore. It was heartening to find out that there was someone—had always been someone—looking out for the magician thief in the place of the father who could no longer do so.

"Nobu-san asked me to be there this Saturday. The imposter's heist notice said he'd be striking at nine that night."

-0-

Nobu Karamaki was a nervous man whose black hair was already liberally streaked with gray even though he was only in his thirties. He had inherited a large house in the mountains next to a small lake from his uncle, who had been his only living relative. The house had come with everything in it from the furniture to the servants.

He and his wife had moved into the house four years ago and enjoyed a peaceful life until the KID notice had arrived.

"My—my uncle collected things. Art, books, antiques, jewelry. He liked things that he could tell stories about, even if they were pretty unbelievable stories," the man explained, mopping his brow with an embroidered handkerchief. He was sweating despite the autumn chill already creeping into the house. "My wife liked the stories though. She wrote them down. Talks about them with any guests we have. She says she'd like to share them with our children one day." For the briefest of moments, a genuine smile lit the man's face, but it was gone an instant later.

Shinichi listened as the man explained the circumstances around the notice's arrival and how they had gone about solving its contents. It seemed he felt obliged to prove the validity of his deductions even though Shinichi hadn't questioned them. Blue eyes wandered around the room, taking in the elegant old furniture and the many photographs on the walls. He noted with interest that there were several paler patches on the walls and along the edges of half a dozen frames. All of those frames contained photographs of Nobu and his wife.

"May we see the jewel in question?" Kaito in the guise of one officer Fukawa, a not very outstanding member of his task force, asked politely. His expression was detached in keeping with the man he was impersonating, though on the inside his interest had been piqued. An eccentric man who had delighted in collecting things with stories to tell might very well have jewels in his collection that would be of interest to Kaitou KID.

Nobu stood up quickly. "O—of course. I will go get it." He hurried to the door, bumping into the corner of his office desk as he did so. Then he was out of the room and the door was shutting behind him.

"I still don't see why he's so nervous," Kaito murmured to Shinichi, careful to use Fukawa's voice even though they were alone.

"I…suppose it's always possible that he just has weak nerves," Shinichi said doubtfully. "To a lot of people who've only lived ordinary lives, any crime can be frightening, especially when it's intruding into your home. A place you thought was safe."

"You don't really believe that's it."

The detective sighed. "Not in this case, but I'm not sure what other explanation there is yet."

"I will say this place seems like it couldn't be more peaceful if it tried."

Shinichi nodded slowly, gaze returning to the photographs on the wall. "Does anything strike you as strange about those photos?"

"You mean the ones that look like they've been moved?"

"Yeah. They're all ones with Nobu-san's wife in them, but they seem off."

Kaito studied the pictures in question for a long moment before speaking. "They're all from this last few days."

Shinichi paused. "days?"

"Yeah. He hasn't shaved in a few days. His stubble looks exactly the same in all those photos, and it's almost exactly the same as his stubble today. That, and all the wrinkles on his face and the places where his hair is gray are also all the same."

Shinichi didn't bother asking Kaito if he was sure. The thief did, after all, specialize in impersonation. Instead, he swept his eyes over the photos again. Now that he was looking for it, he could see what Kaito meant. He also noted that the photos in question weren't just all ones containing the man's wife. They were the only photos containing the man's wife. On the other hand, the majority of these pictures seemed to be of Nobu with his uncle as a teen and young adult. It was always possible that the more recent pictures were, well, more recently placed in this room.

"He could be lying about how long he's been married," Kaito mused, echoing Shinichi's thoughts. "But I can't guess what the point of that would be. Or we could be jumping to conclusions and they have reams of photos tucked away elsewhere."

Shinichi hummed noncommittally. The man could be trying to keep up a pretence of some sort, but Kaito was right. There didn't seem to be much point. All they could do for now was to collect more clues and see where they might lead.


	2. Misdirection

"He sure is taking a long time about getting that jewel," Kaito remarked, drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair. The clock on the wall ticked away, informing them that Nobu had been gone for nearly half an hour already. "I know this house is big, but surely it can't be that big."

"It's always possible the security they've placed around it takes time to get through. Some safes can be very complicated these days, as I'm sure you know."

"Though that begs the question, shouldn't he have just shown us to the holding area? I mean, he did ask us here to help. That means we need to check out his security."

"That's true," the detective agreed. "But it's possible he didn't think of it. We'll ask him when he gets back."

"Our host certainly isn't a very clear thinker, it seems."

Shinichi gave the thief a reproachful look. Such comments were both rude and unhelpful. But Kaito just waved him away and heaved an exaggerated sigh.

The clock ticked on.

Shinichi settled into a pensive silence, organizing his observations and the information they had garnered from their meeting in his head. Unlike his partner, who seemed content to wait, Kaito soon found himself feeling restless. He wanted to get a look around, not sit here in this tiny room waiting all day. If he could manage to get a look at the family's entire jewelry collection while he was here, all the better. After all, though he hadn't set up this heist, there was a chance he might find what he was searching for here. He wouldn't take anything without sending a proper note, but a good look around could save both him and them the trouble depending on what he found.

Suppressing the urge to growl in irritation, he let his eyes wander around the room again. For an office, it was pretty bare. Aside from the clock and the many pictures on the wall, there was only one shelf of books and the desk. It was a very large and very heavy kind of desk. Real wood, Kaito noted, and possibly hand carved, by the look of those carvings down the sides.

He allowed himself a moment to indulge in a little fantasy about bending Shinichi over that desk.

He was really getting into it when the office door finally opened again to admit Nobu Karamaki. Kaito felt a brief flash of annoyance, but he quickly dismissed it. Better that things get moving.

"This is the piece," the man said, setting a small jewelry box on the desk and lifting the lid. Both detective and thief leaned forward in unison to look.

Before them, a diamond ring gleamed against black velvet. It was a silver ring. The diamond in question sat in the beak of a tiny, silver bird perched upon the silver band. It was a very pretty piece of work, but Kaito lost interest immediately. The diamond was far too small to be Pandora.

"This ring was commissioned by a wealthy merchant many years ago as a birthday gift to his daughter," Nobu explained. He paused to lick his dry lips and swallow, gaze fixed on the little bird. For a moment, his expression was lost. Then he pulled himself together again. "His daughter was not a very…not a healthy child. She caught sick often. The doctors all said she wouldn't live much longer. But her father procured this diamond from a mystic who told him that it had the power to absorb illness. He had it made into a bird because his daughter liked birds, and he told her to never take it off. Stories say the girl did actually live a long and happy life. But of course that's just the story."

Shinichi nodded. "I see. If you don't mind me asking, where do you normally keep this ring?"

The man blinked then stammered. "O—oh, right. Of course you'd need to know. It's usually in the vault with the other jewels and things. Like the artwork and ceramics we don't have on display and the, well…" He waved a hand vaguely.

"Can you show us this vault?" Shinichi asked.

The man paled. "I don't—I mean… I'm sure that isn't necessary. I thought I should maybe keep the ring with me. You know, so it would be harder to steal."

The detective and the thief traded looks. If that wasn't a strange reaction, neither of them knew what was.

"I do not mean to be rude," Kaito said. "But keeping the target with you is not very advisable. All a thief would have to do is incapacitate you. If this was a real KID heist, you could at least be sure that you would live, but if this is an imposter, your safety cannot be guaranteed. And you'll excuse me for saying so, but I think your life is more important than this ring."

"O—oh." The man looked uncomfortable. "I…I hadn't thought of that. But you see, though I call it a vault, it's really just a big room in the basement. It doesn't even lock any differently from any other room in the house. We're so far away from anything, we've never had trouble with intruders even back in my uncle's days. So it never seemed necessary to get anything more, well, advanced."

Kaito stared, flabbergasted.

Shinichi coughed lightly, struggling to hide his own astonishment. "We understand your point. Is there a part of the house you would consider more secure? Somewhere without too many exits that we would be able to monitor easily. There isn't much time left to prepare, but we might be able to set up a trap for the thief."

"I would also recommend endeavoring to make it easier for the thief to determine a target location," Kaito said. "Otherwise he may take someone hostage and try to torture a location out of them. If you let him believe he knows where and what he's after, you can protect your household at least a little."

By now, Nobu was looking distinctly green. "I—I'm not sure what kind of places would be… But I can get a blueprint of the house for you if you would like."

They agreed, and the man left the office again, leaving the ring with them.

Kaito shook his head. "Honestly, talk about careless. For all he knows, we're the thieves in disguise. Yet here he just leaves the jewel."

"It doesn't seem to me like he cares a great deal about this ring," Shinichi murmured, frown deepening. "I'm almost positive he's worried about something else. But what?"

-0-

When the door opened again, it was not Nobu but his wife who entered. Though the woman held herself with a great deal more poise than her husband had, she too shoed signs of long term wear. She was thin, and her cheeks were hollow. There were dark circles under her eyes.

"My husband is searching for a blueprint of the house," she said when she had their attention. Her hands were clasped loosely before her, but she couldn't seem to keep them still. Her long fingers kept fidgeting, turning her wedding ring around and around so that Shinichi couldn't help but notice that the ring was a little loose for her. "We're afraid we may have misplaced it. But we thought of a room that might be suitable. If you come with me, I can show you where it is."

Kaito offered the woman a smile. "Please do."

She did not return his smile. She only picked up the ring in its box and turned around, gesturing for them to follow her.

She led the way through the massive house. The halls were deserted. Everything was spotlessly clean.

Eventually, they found themselves walking into a small room at the top of the house. It had only one door and one window. The window overlooked the house's rather sizeable swimming pool. The room itself contained only a table and two chairs.

"We take our tea in here sometimes," the woman said. She placed the ring box down on the middle of the table. "Will this do?"

Shinichi moved to look out the window. The face of the building was relatively sheer, and the room was located four floors up. A thief who tried to escape through the window would have to fly like Kaitou KID, plant some kind of climbing aid, or pray like crazy that they landed in the deep end of the swimming pool instead of the shallows or on the concrete. In other words, it wasn't an impossible escape route, but it wasn't an easy one either. It certainly wasn't a route you wanted to take without planning first.

The room's one door was also of ordinary size with an ordinary lock. The hall outside it was went straight until it reached the top of the stairs, giving anyone on this floor a clear view all the way from said stairs to the room. There were other doors along the hall, but no branch hallways.

"It's not too bad," Kaito said, tapping his chin as he played the role of the unremarkable police officer. "It would be very hard to get in from outside, and there's only one other way in that we can monitor easily."

"I'd still like to see the vault though," Shinichi added. "I know your husband said it isn't a very secure place, but it still might be better. After all, it was in the basement, right?"

A frown flitted across the woman's face. "Yes. But it has a window too, and it's so cluttered that it would mean a thief would have many places to hide."

"True. But it's also where a thief who's done his homework is likely to look first," Kaito supplied. He could tell that Shinichi wanted to see the vault, and he had his own reasons to wish to see it too. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

"I guess if you insist," the woman conceded reluctantly. "If you wait here for a few minutes, I can go get my husband. I…don't like going down there by myself." She gave them a strained smile. "And he knows the layout of the place much better than I do."

The detective and the thief traded looks as the woman left. The woman's behavior was just as strange as her husband's.

Once again, they had to wait. It was a whole half hour before Nobu and his wife reappeared.

The couple led Shinichi and Kaito back down through the house until they reached the basement level. There, Mrs. Karamaki wrapped an arm through her husband's for comfort before they started for the vault. Nobu's whole body was stiff as he led the way to the supposed vault.

The vault turned out to be every bit as unremarkable as Nobu had said it was. The place was a massive room stuffed to the bursting point with everything from paintings to old furniture. Navigating through the place was like walking through a maze. It would take a very, very, very patient thief with a whole lot of time to find anything in the clutter, Shinichi thought, picking his way across the chamber to get a closer look at the windows.

Said windows were narrow and placed at the tops of the back wall. A skinny person would probably be able to slide through them. Once inside, there was a plethora of hiding places.

"I guess the upstairs room would be better after all," he said. Halfway back to where the Karamaki couple was standing by the door, he paused. There was a sprinkling of something pale on the floor.

Bending down, he peered closely at the pale spots.

"Did you find something, Kudo-kun?" Kaito asked, appearing next to him.

"I think they're bread crumbs," the detective replied, puzzled. Considering how clean the whole house was, the crumbs were quite a surprise. It wasn't as though vaults were good places for an afternoon snack.

So who might have been eating down here? Or had someone with bread crumbs on their clothes been through here recently and not bothered to clean up after themselves?

"I think we should go back to the office and make a plan," Shinichi declared, though he caught Kaito's eyes with a question in his own.

The magician nodded then turned to Nobu. "Excuse me, but I kind of need to use the restroom. Could you…?"

"Oh. Oh, right, of course. Uh…"

"Mizuki will show you the way," said Mrs. Karamaki.

On cue, one of the few servants they had seen in the house appeared. He was a very tall and very muscular man with a face that looked like it had been on the wrong end of a few too many fists.

He nodded to the woman, though not, Kaito noted, to Nobu. Then he listened to her request and nodded again. After that, he gestured for Kaito to follow him as the Karamakis and Shinichi retired back to the office.


	3. Truths and Lies

"This really is a nice place," Kaito remarked to the giant of a servant as the man led him through the house.

The man grunted but said nothing.

Kaito couldn't say he was surprised.

"Sorry, but could we hurry it up a bi?" he asked, affecting an air of embarrassment. "It's, uh, kind of getting urgent. If you know what I mean."

Mizuki grunted again. He did, however, walk a little faster. A few minutes later, he turned the corner and opened a door—to reveal a broom closet. He shut it again and opened the next door. This time, he struck gold. He stepped aside then and nodded to Kaito.

"So…will you be showing me the way back?" Kaito asked as he walked past the man into the restroom.

A grunt and a nod.

"Right. Thanks. And sorry again about the inconvenience."

Grunt.

Kaito shut the door. Honestly, he had never met a worse conversationalist. Fortunately, the man had divulged at least two important pieces of information even without saying a word. The first and most obvious was that this Mizuki was not familiar with the house. This could be understood if he had been hired on recently as a security measure because of the impending heist. He certainly had the face for a security guard. But if he was a guard then he was doing a poor job of it since he was spending his time guiding guests around instead of, well, guarding. Unless, of course, it wasn't the house or its treasures he was guarding.

The second thing the man had inadvertently told Kaito was that the thief would not have to worry about the guy wandering around while "Fukawa" was doing his business.

Kaito smirked.

He'd had sleeping gas ready, but this bathroom had a frosted window. That made things easier. With the ease of long practice, he shed his Fukawa disguise and changed into more nondescript, dark clothes. Then he jimmied open the window, planted a bug and a miniature mike in the restroom near the door, and climbed out the window. From there, he dropped lightly the one story to the ground outside. He was at the house's flank, he observed. Here, there were plenty of bushes and trees to provide shade and hiding places. Good.

That would make it easier to get back into the building unseen.

Kaito scanned the building's face. This side of the house didn't have many windows, but there was a low terrace just above the treetops that must lead to a larger room.

Cautious, Kaito climbed up one of the trees beside said terrace and peered over the rails. As he had guessed, the room beyond was some kind of dining hall, probably meant for big parties. At the moment, it was empty.

Perfect.

The tree was just close enough to the terrace for him to leap easily from one to the other. Then it was merely a matter of unlocking the terrace doors and letting himself in. According to his mental map, this should place him a floor above where he was supposed to be. But he wanted to get back down to the basement. Though first, he had to find a working phone.

Five minutes later, one gruff Mizuki left the dining hall.

-0-

Shinichi was only half listening as Nobu's wife explained her plans for catching the thief or thieves. His attention was, rather, focused on Nobu. The man had not said a word since they had sat down in the office. And he was clearly sweating though the room wasn't really all that hot. The man kept looking at his wife then down at his hands before he would bite his lip, twiddle his fingers, and sigh. The woman herself must have noticed this, but she gave no indication that she thought it odd.

And the way the two were sitting… They were seated side by side on the loveseat that had been placed against one wall of the office, but though they were sitting close, they weren't touching, and Nobu looked stiff.

"Excuse me, Miss," Shinichi said, cutting the woman off before she could explain how awful it had felt to get a heist notice from a robber of all things. "I know we've been over this before, but could you please refresh my memory on the origins of the ring?"

"Oh." The woman paused then frowned. Her gaze flickered to Nobu, who wouldn't look at her. Eventually, she plastered on a smile. "It is beautiful, isn't it? It was a gift from grandfather to grandmother."

The conversation stalled.

And Shinichi was now more sure than ever that this woman was not Nobu's wife.

Not only was he stiff and borderline terrified in her presence, he had said his wife enjoyed collecting stories about the things in the house to share with people. This woman neither knew nor cared about such things, and she was definitely the one calling the shots.

Following that vein of logic, Nobu's wife must have been in the pictures that had been removed from the walls. And then they'd been replaced by this woman just last week to make it appear as though she were the house's rightful mistress.

But to what end?

Was she the thief? It was possible. But if she was just here for the ring, why hadn't she simply absconded with it instead of setting up this elaborate charade? Unless she was here for more than just the ring. If she wanted more, maybe she needed the extra time or leverage to get everything carted away. But why let the man of the house call on a detective? Was it so that she frame KID? It wasn't an impossible scenario, but it still didn't seem right. It was a lot of extra trouble for no good reason.

But that left only one worrying possibility.

This wasn't about Nobu or anything he owned at all. This was about them—more specifically, about Shinichi.

But what business did this woman have with him?

-0-

Kaito's first stop was the kitchen, where he found a phone and not a single servant. Their cell phones had had no reception here in the mountains, but fortunately the landline connected.

"Hello, Nakamori-keibu? This is Fukawa. Do you have a moment?"

The inspector on the other end of the phone grunted. "Make it quick. My meeting's about to start."

"Oh, okay. I just wanted to know if you'd learned anything new about the KID imposter case?"

"What? What KID imposter case? Why haven't I heard anything about this?!"

"Oh, uh, I guess maybe it was just a prank call. Sorry." He laughed and hung up, but on the inside, indigo eyes narrowed. Considering Nakamori's personality, he would never forget about any potential KID case even if it was a fake one. That meant he hadn't been consulted about Nobu's case. So the man had lied about approaching the police. The only reason to do that would be to make sure Shinichi didn't bring the case to the police when first called in.

This didn't bode well.

Next, he called Takagi-keiji.

"Hello?"

"Takagi, it's Kudo Shinichi," Kaito said in Shinichi's voice. "Can you please send some officers to this address?" He rattled off the address. "This household received a threat. I checked it out, and I believe it's real, and they're going to strike tonight."

"Wait, what?" Takagi gasped. "What's going on?"

"Sorry. There's no time to explain. Just come."

And he hung up. It was time to check up on the other task Shinichi had given him.

Funny how much his dear detective could convey with a raised eyebrow and a pair of sparkling blue eyes.


	4. Exposure

"Should we not be going about setting up the room?" the supposed lady of the house asked.

"We should," Shinichi agreed. "Nobu-san, would you accompany me?"

The man looked at his wife then stood. "O—of course."

His wife rose as well.

"It's all right if you wait here," Shinichi said to her, putting on his best concerned face. "Whoever's coming might be dangerous. It would be much safer for you if you stayed away. I'm sure your husband would feel more comfortable too, knowing that you're out of the line of fire."

Did he imagine the flash of irritation in the lady's eyes? No. He'd seen it.

"But I would feel safer if we stayed together," she said.

"Then let's go together," Shinichi relented. With both Nobu and his not-wife, they made their way back up to the upper chamber where the ring was to be kept. Shinichi absently checked over the arrangement of the furniture and the placement of the windows, cataloguing which ways the doors and windows opened and what types of locks were being used where. But mostly, he watched his two hosts.

He saw the steel in the woman's eyes and the shadow in her husband's. The way the man cowered every time his wife looked his way spoke volumes.

"Nobu-san," he said finally. "Do you think you could bring up a few drinks?"

"Oh, uh, I…I guess I could go get a few," the man said, wiping the sweat from his face with a handkerchief. He looked as though he was about to have a nervous breakdown. "I—if that's all right with you, Dear?"

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," the lady said slowly, and Nobu looked both startled and relieved. "I have a few things I would like to discuss with our young detective friend."

"I…I see. I'll just, uh, get tea." Still mumbling half coherent sentences about getting beverages, the man hurried from the room.

Shinichi waited until they could no longer hear the man's anxious footsteps before turning to the lady.

"What do you want from me?" he asked simply.

The woman put on a puzzled look. "Whatever do you mean? A thief has targeted my ring. I only wish for you to protect it for me."

"That might be true if you were really Nobu-san's wife," he said. "Which we both know you're not."

The woman remained motionless for a moment before she shrugged and dropped her smile though not her confident stance. "I suppose I should have expected the great little detective to figure it out. But you know, I think I like it better this way."

Shinichi frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean this." The woman reached into her lacy purse and pulled out a small handgun. "My revenge would have been incomplete if you had gone down without figuring anything out. Not knowing what you did. Why you're about to be punished."

"If that's your goal, you might need to explain yourself a bit more," Shinichi told her, leaning back against the wall by the window and crossing his arms. "I've never met you before, and I honestly have no idea what I could have done to you."

The woman glowered and leveled her gun at his chest. "My name is Dachikumo Shizuran, and you're the reason I lost everything."

Shinichi blinked. "Dachikumo?" he echoed. "The man who murdered his sister to get her half of their inheritance because he'd squandered all of his own?"

"He was just taking back what should've been his," Shizuran snapped. "That little bimbo wasn't anything special. We were the ones who had to look after that old crone until she kicked it. We deserved to get whatever she had left, but no, the will said each sibling got half. Even if all they did was visit once in a while. We deserved the money. We were going to get out of here and finally have some fun in our lives, but then you come along and ruin it. But I'm glad you remember." The woman sounded truly pleased. "You'll have a good long time to think about it and regret being such a nosy little brat."

"Does that mean you're not planning on shooting me right away?" he asked, doing his best to sound unconcerned.

"Not unless you try to escape. But you should know, if you do try anything, Nobu's real wife will pay the price. Followed by the rest of their staff."

"You don't really think you can keep me locked up here, do you?"

The woman's smile was deranged. "Only for a time. Oh, and if you're thinking that that officer downstairs is going to help you, I wouldn't count on it. Even if he figures out what's going on, he won't be getting past my men. And frankly, he didn't look that bright."

Shinichi suppressed the urge to laugh. If an entire police task force dedicated to his capture couldn't stop him, this woman's henchmen didn't stand the ghost of a chance. But he needed to stall the woman here without aggravating her to the point of shooting him if he wanted to give Kaito enough time to save the hostages and for the police to arrive. It shouldn't be too hard, he reasoned, considering the woman had already said she had other plans, and she didn't seem to have any idea at all that Kaito too had figured out her ruse. He supposed he should congratulate the thief on choosing to come as an officer who didn't, as the woman put it, look very bright. He just hoped that she really had been keeping all the hostages sequestered out of sight inside the house like they believed. If she had had the foresight to lock one of them away elsewhere, this could get trickier.

"Why did you drag Nobu-san's family into this?" he asked.

Shizuran shrugged. "I needed some place out of the way, and they had a nice collection. Should fetch a nice price when I sell it."

So the woman was planning to rob the house on top of everything else she had already done to these poor people? It was appalling how little she clearly cared about anyone but herself. Shinichi knew he was frowning, but he couldn't help it. Though he dealt with murderers on a near daily basis, such blasé disregard for other people was not something he encountered often (thank heavens for that).

"What, you don't approve?" the woman drawled, smirking. "Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you stuck your nose into other people's family affairs."

Selfish was too weak a word to describe this woman. On the other hand, it was good that people like her enjoyed gloating. The more time she spent doing so, the better it was for them.

A buzzing sound filled the air. Shizuran let go of her gun with one hand to fish a phone from her pocket. She glanced at the screen before swiping her finger across it and bringing it to her ear.

"What is it?" she asked. "What do you mean what should you do? Just put them with the others, obviously." She paused a moment then rolled her eyes. "What does that matter? Oh fine. I'll be right there." She stuffed the phone back into her pocket, muttering about fools without brains who weren't worth the cost to hire them.

"Fun as this has been, I'll be seeing you later," she said to him, that now familiar sneer tugging at her lips. "Just sit tight and think about making better choices in your next life, hmmm?" Then she was gone, the door slamming shut behind her.

Shinichi waited until the sound of her footsteps had faded before moving to test the door. It was, of course, locked. He sighed and moved to pace around the room, bored.

He was relatively sure that the person who had called Shizuran was Kaito. He had called the woman away on purpose. Which left Shinichi to sit here and wait for the magician to finish up and come get him. It was a somewhat anticlimactic way for the day to end, but at least no one had died. Although, just in case he was wrong, he opened the window. If something went wrong, he trusted Kaito to send him some kind of signal.

That was around when he noticed the smell.

-0-

Everything had gone pretty much how Kaito had planned, he mused, looking down at the unconscious woman trussed up on the floor. The only thing that bothered him was that it had taken a lot longer for her to come downstairs than he had expected. Even if she was unfamiliar with the large house's layout, she had taken way too long. Well, it was over now. He just had to go up and get Shinichi.

He paused in the front hall as Nobu opened the door to make sure it was the police and not more goons. As expected, it was. What he wasn't expecting was the first words out of the officer's mouth.

"You have a landline, right? Have you called the fire department?"

Nobu froze. "What?"

Kaito didn't stop to hear the officer's answer. He hadn't noticed earlier because the scent was still so faint, but, now that the topic of fire had come up, he realized he could smell smoke.

Fear spiked inside his chest.

-0-

This was bad.

Sleeve held over his nose and mouth against the smoke, Shinichi tried to think. At first, he had tried to force the door, but the fire on the other side was growing much faster than he had expected. The door handle burned to the touch, and heat rolled through the door in waves. There were already bright tendrils leaking in around the frame, but the real problem was the thick smoke choking the air. It was seeping out the window, but one small, lone window wasn't drawing out nearly enough smoke. It burned at his eyes and lungs, and his head spun with lack of oxygen.

Stumbling across to the window, he leaned out, gasping for breath and blinking his eyes to clear them. He needed to get out, but the location of the window wasn't exactly conducive to climbing. He wished he had his Conan suspenders. If he got out of this, he was going to ask Agasa to try creating an extendable belt or something.

"Shinichi!"

He looked down at the sound of Kaito's voice to see 'Fukawa' waving urgently at him from a window below his current position. "Jump! I'll catch you."

Shinichi didn't stop to give himself time to think better of it. He climbed onto the windowsill and jumped.

He closed his eyes on reflex as the ground came rushing up towards him. For an instant, he was completely alone, surrounded only by the whistle of the wind past his ears. Then a familiar pair of arms caught him around the middle. He didn't stop falling, but his descent jerked and slowed.

They landed in the pool with an almighty splash.


	5. Of Words and Actions [Contains Lemon]

"So you jumped into the pool?" Takagi-keiji asked, his expression torn between incredulous and amazed. "That was really dangerous!"

"I know," Shinichi replied, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "But it was that or stay in a burning room."

Takagi winced. "That's true. Just one last question," he said quickly, noticing the way Shinichi shivered in his wet clothes. One of the officers had lent him a jacket, but that was the only dry piece of clothing Shinichi was wearing. Nobu would have been more than happy to offer him a change of clothes, no matter how ill fitting, but the fire had consumed most of the upper floors of the house—which was where the household's bedrooms and, consequently, their spare clothes had been. "You said you came with an officer from the KID Task Force. Do you know where he went?"

Shinichi had to fight really hard to keep a blank face. He and Kaito had known that his cover would be blown when the police arrived, so the thief had gone ahead to a hotel at the base of the mountain that he had had the foresight to book. "No," he said. "Haven't you seen him?"

"No, actually. And, when we contacted Nakamori-keibu, he said he hadn't sent an officer up here. In fact, he said he'd never heard of any potential heists in this area."

Shinichi had guessed that much already, but he had an act to keep up, so he stared. "Oh. I… Wait, but that means Fukawa-san was…"

Takagi rubbed at the back of his neck. "Yeah. Most likely, it was him." Apparently feeling that the situation was moving into awkward territory, he cleared his throat and stood. "Come on. Kitagawa-san is going to drive you to your hotel if you're sure you don't want to go to the hospital."

"Thanks. And I'm sure."

Kitagawa was a silent man, something for which Shinichi was grateful. The drive down the mountain was long, but it would have been longer if he had had to make small talk.

Now that the whole fiasco was over, he felt drained and empty. What had the point of this whole night been? A whole lot of people had been hurt, and for what?

Those depressing questions continued circling through his head as he thanked the officer for the ride and made his way into the hotel. He didn't need to speak to the front desk because Kaito had given him the keycard ahead of time. He was glad of that, though when Kaito had had the time to check into the hotel and get the cards, he had no idea. For now though, he didn't care. He found the door to the right room up on the fifth floor and let himself in.

Kaito was nowhere in sight, but the sound of the shower could be heard through the bathroom's closed door. The magician's wet clothes (both his disguise and his KID suit) were hanging up to dry.

The door shut behind Shinichi, locking automatically. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, and he slumped back against the solid wood for a moment and just breathed.

The shower turned off. A few minutes later, the door opened and Kaito stepped out with a towel wrapped around his waist and another in his hands as he dried his messy hair. He caught Shinichi looking and grinned. Shinichi's heart skipped a beat, and he blushed, looking away.

"Hey there. Glad you made it. You should hurry and get out of those wet clothes if you don't want to catch a cold."

Shinichi nodded mutely and scurried into the bathroom.

The hot water of the shower was a balm on his nerves.

He still wished he could stop thinking.

Half an hour later, his clothes too were hung up to dry with Kaito's. Since they didn't have any spare clothes (well, Shinichi didn't. He didn't know if Kaito really didn't have any spare clothes or if the thief was just pretending), they wound up sitting together on the hotel bed with a blanket wrapped around the both of them as they watched a movie.

Five minutes into the show, Kaito pulled Shinichi onto his lap. The detective made no comment, simply settling himself more comfortably in his partner's embrace.

The movie was a mystery and surprisingly good, but the day had been long, and Shinichi found himself stifling a yawn. He felt warm and drowsy, but at the same time he couldn't seem to manage to actually sleep. He supposed part of him was still a little on edge after the close call he'd had. And whenever the day's incidents crossed his mind, he couldn't help but feel guilty that any of it had happened at all. The entire escapade had been just so…pointless. They had foiled the plans of a selfish, spiteful woman, but those plans had only been hatched because he had helped catch a murderer in the past. All his life, he had been working towards solving and stopping crimes, but was he really making a difference? He still saw just as many murders now as he did in the past. He preferred to believe that human beings were innately good, but sometimes, he had to wonder…

With an effort, he pushed those depressing thoughts away and tried to focus on the movie. The main characters had just found definitive evidence of who the killer was, but it seemed the killer had caught on to the fact that they were on his trail and was beginning to plot to frame them for his crimes. The tension was rising, but despite his best efforts, Shinichi found himself having to pull his attention back to the story every few seconds.

He felt more than heard Kaito sigh. Tilting his head back, he glanced up at the side of the magician's face only to meet a pair of indigo eyes. They were studying him intently. For a long moment, they simply gazed at each other, each reading the lingering tension and unrest in the other's faces. On a whim, Shinichi leaned up and brushed his lips against the magician's, wishing he knew how to tell Kaito just how grateful he was to have the magician here with him. But he couldn't seem to bring himself to speak. Letting out a sigh of his own, he turned his gaze back to the television as he tried again to focus on the present, letting the movie and Kaito's reassuring presence chase away his restless, half-formed thoughts.

Kaito's fingers began tracing light circles on his thighs. Shinichi sighed and shifted, leaning back more heavily against the magician's chest. Kaito's fingers danced across his stomach, causing Shinichi to stifle a giggle, before they drifted over Shinichi's inner thighs. Kaito grinned when Shinichi unconsciously spread his legs. The magician's fingers continued their feather light exploration, teasing—but also assessing. Checking for injuries.

Shinichi's eyelids fluttered. The muted voices from the television receded to a humming background blur, as did any thoughts of the day's events. Shinichi welcomed the distraction. It was much easier to focus on the magician than the plot of the movie, which had finished exploring the mystery and moved on into flashy action scenes that didn't involve any thinking. His skin tingled under Kaito's hands. His whole body felt warm and pliant.

One calloused hand slid across his belly, over his hip, down his thigh then up again until it closed around his growing arousal.

He moaned, his head falling back onto Kaito's shoulder. The hand gave a long, firm pull and Shinichi's hips bucked. His breaths were coming in shorter now. With his eyes closed, all his attention was focused on the sensation of the hands wandering his body. Calloused fingers trailed over his chest, pausing to pinch and play with his nipples before migrating further up to trace his collar bones and the curve of his neck until they were pressing into his mouth. Shinichi found himself sucking eagerly on the thief's fingers.

The magician regarded the detective on his lap through half-lidded eyes, a faint smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. He loved the way Shinichi responded to his every touch. And the way Shinichi's tongue was curling hot and wet and eager around his fingers was sending tingles of electricity up his spine.

He allowed Shinichi to suck on his fingers a little longer before he pulled them free. His hand slid down to press a saliva-slick finger into Shinichi's entrance. The finger probed deeper, and Shinichi's breath left him in a soft sigh that hinted at a moan. The finger eased itself in and out in rhythm with the hand stroking him, making Shinichi squirm, caught between the two sensations. Then there was a second finger pushing into him alongside the first: stretching him.

Shinichi's lips parted in soft, mewling gasps. He lay limp against Kaito's chest, breathing ragged, legs spread wide and quivering. The fingers thrust and scissored as the hand pumping him began to move faster, and soon all Shinichi could do was whimper for more. The two fingers had become three, and they were thrusting into him more roughly now. His toes curled in pleasure. Then Kaito's fingers found that spot, and he cried out as his back arched and his hands grasped and twisted at the blanket still draped around them.

An almost feral grin tugged at Kaito's lips as he pressed his fingers hard into that spot again and again, delighting in Shinichi's pleasured cries.

There was something incredibly satisfying about how he could reduce Shinichi to a writhing mess with just his hands. His detective was completely at his mercy, ready to be subjected to the thief's every whim. The thought was enough to make his own already rock hard member throb with desire.

Shinichi whimpered when Kaito's hands abruptly abandoned their ministrations.

But then Kaito had hooked an arm around his waist and he was being lifted up as Kaito rose to his knees on the bed, turning them away from the TV.

Shinichi blinked, finding himself on all fours with a face full of pillow and a magician looming over him, calloused hands gripping his hips. He didn't have any time to contemplate the change of position however as he felt the tip of Kaito's hard cock pressing against his entrance. Then the thief was pushing into him from behind, thick and hot. Shinichi clenched his rear around the intrusion as a contented moan escaped his lips. He blushed, realizing that he was on the verge of coming just from the feeling of being filled by Kaito.

He wanted more. He wanted Kaito to take him hard and fast—wanted to forget about everything except his magician and this feeling of closeness.

He relished in the knowledge that he was the center of Kaito's attention. The one that the magician had chosen. The one that Kaito loved. That knowledge made the pleasure of their coupling all the more intense.

As though in answer to his thoughts, Kaito began to thrust.

Shinichi buried his face in a pillow to muffle his screams of pure pleasure as Kaito thrust into him, hard and deep, again and again and again.

It was bliss. It was a fire that burned without pain. It consumed them, wrapping them in this one timeless moment when their minds were full of nothing but each other.

Their cries as they came together were as one voice, joint in the ecstasy of their lovemaking.

They collapsed onto the bed where they were, still joined and breathing hard. Shinichi squirmed a little, failing to swallow a moan. He could feel Kaito's hot essence inside him. The sensation made him blush even after all this time.

He whimpered a little as he felt Kaito pulling out of him.

Chuckling softly, Kaito laid down next to him and pulled Shinichi onto his chest. Long, dexterous fingers combed lovingly through soft, black hair.

"I was scared, you know," Kaito said quietly, breaking the comfortable silence. "I thought I was going to lose you."

Shinichi cringed. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"I know, but I…" Shinichi trailed off, not sure what exactly he wanted to say.

As a detective, he knew he would make enemies. But there was always something particularly disheartening about being condemned by the loved ones of criminals for uncovering those criminals' crimes like it was he who was the villain. He didn't meet many like that, but when he did, it always left him feeling off even when the people in question were as self-centered as Shizuran. And now Nobu's entire family and staff had had to suffer through not only being held hostage but also having half their home burned down. They were completely innocent bystanders who should never have been involved in any of this.

"You're not responsible for that woman's choices," Kaito said sharply as though he'd read Shinichi's mind.

Shinichi blinked up at the magician, startled by his vehemence but grateful for it too. Leaning up, he placed a kiss on the magician's lips. "Thank you. I promise I'll try harder not to worry you in the future.""

Kaito snorted. "I'll hold you to that." Then he smiled and pulled Shinichi in for another, deeper kiss. "That's enough gloomy talk. Did you want to finish the movie? Or~" His hands trailed down Shinichi's spine to coddle his rear. "Are you ready for round two?"

The blush crept back into Shinichi's cheeks, but he answered the magician with a smile of his own, shifting so that he was now straddling Kaito's hips right on top of the thief's partially erect member. The sensation made him shiver, and he leaned up to murmur into Kaito's ear.

"I like it when you come inside me."

The way the thief's eyes widened in shock was worth the mortification he felt at his own wanton behavior.

In an instant, Kaito had flipped them over, pinning Shinichi to the bed. The detective automatically wrapped his legs around Kaito's waist. He found himself blinking up into dark indigo eyes that gleamed in a way that made his stomach flip over and his body feel hot all over.

Leaning down, Kaito captured the detective's lips in another deep, heated kiss.

The night was still young. And tomorrow was a Saturday. That meant they still had a whole weekend to themselves. And Kaito fully intended to take advantage of every minute.


End file.
